And, grasping that, then he knew that the great President of the game~, seater] high in heaven, would, in God's Name, call him forth to receive the immortal prize, to crown him with tho unfading laurel. VII. THREEFOLD EXHORTATION. 1. Let us aspire after higher attainment in the future. "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." There is a dis- tinction to be made between those who are perfect and those who are made perfect. The perfect (as the Greek word sugges~) are those who are in sympathy with the end and in the right course, although they have not yet come to the end or are made perfect. 'l.'bere may thus be a kind of perfection from the beginning. But especially are those perfect who, when opportunity has been given, have gone on from the state of babes or mere starters in the race to a certain maturity of Christian experience. Opportunity being given, we should be numbered amongst the perfect, those who have attained to a certain skill in running. "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded." Let us not be satisfied with present attainment. Let us feel the attraction of the goal of Christian perfection. Let our eye stretch forward as over the inter- venincr space up to this goal. Let our energies be bent as toward that which is difficult of at1:inment, toward that which will require all oar singleness and intensity. And, for our own encouragement, let us also feel the attraction of the prize. Let us feel the attraction of the moment when, for faithfulness to him and to his end in apprehending us, the righteous Judge shall call us forward to receive the crown of righteousness. 2. Let us pray against present error. "And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you." It is a case which is very likely to occur. We may be earnest in the main, and yet there may be some particular thing in regard to which we are self-satisfied, about which we are not sufficiently enlightened, and so we wander from the right course. Who can understand his errors? Under the conscious- ness of our own inability to understand, let us have recourse to God. The promise here is that he will discover every particular mistake to ns. Let us look to God to show us wherein we are in error. "Search me, 0 God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way ever- lasting." 3. Let us learn from past attainment. "Only, whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule let us walk." We may not go to past attainment for sclf- contentment, but we may go for lessons to be learnt. If we have attained to any skill in the Christian race, it is because we have followed the Bible as our rule. It has prescribed to us our course. Let us hold fast that which we have proved to be good. Let us act on the same principles on which we have hitherto acted in any attainment we have made. Let there be "faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth unto us the blessiugs of redemption." Following the rules we shall unfailingly advance up to the goal and receive the prize,-R. F.
Vers.17-21.-Contrastedcharactersanddestinies. I. WHOM TO LOOK TO. "Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as ye have us for an ensample." There was no assumption in Paul putting himself before the P!Jilippians for their imitation. He was simply proceeding on what belonged to the relation sub- sisting between them. It devolved on Timothy to be an example to believers in the various places where he laboured in word, in manner oflife, in love, in faith, in purity. So it devolved on Paul, as having the care of the Gentile Churches, to walk before them so that they might be directed in their walk. And, although be did not count himself perfect, yet he had earnestly endeavoured to come up to this idea of his duty. He had carried his faithfulness to Christ to the extent of suffering imprisonment for him for a long period. In a brotherly manner, then, he asked them to imitate him. Let them hold to Christ under all circumstances. Let them not refuse the hardships to be endured in his service. Others were imitators of him and were proving themselves valiant for Christ and against persecution. Let them also be numbered among his imitators. He did not set himself exclusively forward for their imitation. He leaves the singular for the plural. "As ye have us for an example." He could join with himself other Christian teachers known to the Philippians. There was one typo according to which they walked. Mark them among them who followed this ty[•l'. "Mark tho perfect man," says the psalrui8t, The New Testament form given to it 140 '.l'HE EPISTLE TO THE PHILlPPIANS. [on. m. 1-21.